Well, you are a perfect example of what I am talking about (and that is a good thing, IMHO).
Obviously, you are not pro gun control; yet you see thing that could be changedd that would be a positive step in intelligent handling of the gun buying process.
I am with the protesters that say "do something!" It doesn't have to be the perfect panacea or all-encompassing, but repeatedly the obvious things that even pro-gun constituents agree on as being reasonable are being blocked in congress. I don't know how much of it is direct payments to congressmen vs. the threat of heavy $upport for an opponent vs convincing their most loyal followers that any concession is a major step on the "slippery slope" of giving the government the right to confiscate anyone's firearms on a whim!
But it would be reassuring to see even the single most obvious and uncontested law enacted just to know that NRA doesn't hold total sway over congress.
I think we need some controls on guns, just as we need controls for who drives, flies and is involved in activities that can be dangerous to others if they can't control whatever they're using, including their mind. Doing something without looking at the core of the problem will do more harm than good and this is a perfect example of emotions taking over when logic should be used.
We have a problem. What is the first step in solving a problem? DEFINE THE PROBLEM. The problem isn't "people are being killed", that's the result of the problem. The problem is "people are killing other people for reasons that are generally insignificant". Are they trying to make a statement because they feel inferior? I don't want people like that owning guns, especially anything with a large magazine. They just happen to be using guns that are easy to acquire. I don't have a problem if 'Gun Control' means getting guns out of the hands of criminals and crazy people but I don't like any talk of confiscation, mandatory buy-back (how would the country afford to buy 350 million guns without adding a lot of debt without making people pay for it?) and making it impossible for law-abiding people to defend themselves. If we find the reasons and find solutions, we'll be/have a better society. The idea that 'an armed society is a polite society' assumes a certain level of logic- people who don't care if the rest are armed are the problem. It's similar, in a way, to the idea that 'Locks are for honest people'- if someone really wants to get in, they'll find a way.
That doesn't mean I want people to be able to walk into a gun store and leave with a cart full of guns five minutes later- think of it this way- a kid meets someone at school and says they want to go to that kid's house after school. What will a good parent do? Start asking questions- Who is this?, Who are their parents?, where do they live?.....". The more we know about applicants, the safer we'll be. The question usually asked when someone doesn't want to answer questions is "What are you hiding?".
To your point about the NRA controlling Congress- we need to make Congress work for us and if that means recalling them and no longer voting for them, so be it. We shouldn't give a rat's ass about the members of Congress when they complain about ANYTHING in their lives, including the loss of their seat unless it's some kind of human tragedy that would apply to anyone else. Oh, they lost their Senate or House seat? Wahhh!
I want ANYONE who has a gun to be trained in how to use it. Period. I don't want people spraying lead all over because I don't want to be hit when someone lost it over a parking space or something equally stupid, like a family argument, losing a bet, looked at the shooter in a way that they felt was too aggressive ('mean-mugging'). None of that needs to result in a shooting and people who resort to gunfire over something so trivial shouldn't have guns.
Speaking of being able to hit the target- in case you haven't heard, two of the shooting victims in Dayton were shot by errant Police bullets.
When I was growing up in the '60s, we didn't have the crimes that are currently plaguing the nation. It was nice- we could leave the house and garage unlocked, we could go anywhere in the city without worrying about being mugged or killed, we could leave things in our yard and if they were found somewhere else, one of our neighbors would return them. We had an older couple who had house keys for half of the block- if we came home from school and the house was locked, we could get the key (if we were old enough) or hang out at their house and they ALWAYS had milk & cookies for us and coffee for the adults who came to pick up their kids. As kids, we could go anywhere without our parents assuming the worst- we could explore our 'world' which, typically, was about one square mile, but it was full of different places to see. As teenagers, we could hitch hike and actually get to our destination.
People were better, back then.
